Adelaide, 23 October 2025 — Shreyas Iyer’s return to an upright stance is hardly new, yet on a spring afternoon at the Adelaide Oval it felt like the start of something fresh. India’s middle-order batter compiled 61 from 77 balls in the second ODI, the bulk of those runs arriving after the ball had begun to rear awkwardly at hip and shoulder height. The innings steadied India on a surface offering more seam and lift than expected and, just as importantly, offered Iyer confirmation that the technical shift he made during the off-season is worth persisting with.
Key moment first. Sixth over, Josh Hazlewood dug one in, the ball jagged and bounced. Iyer rocked back, bat almost vertical, and steered it safely behind square. The shot looked simple, but for a man whose game against short-pitched pace has been questioned, it was quietly significant.
“Since last year, I wanted to have an upright stance [for conditions] where the bounce is a little bit more than expected,” he said afterwards. “And based on that, I worked with my coach and we developed this new technique, and it was kind of suiting me pretty well.”
From there the conversation flowed. He spoke of childhood habits, of red-soil pitches in Mumbai, and of a body that, after two back injuries, no longer lets him copy-paste a single set-up into every format. “Even in Mumbai, when we play on red-soil wickets – where the bounce is a little bit extra than expected – I think it helps with the upright stance,” Iyer explained. “And yeah, you’ve got to keep chopping and changing every now and then, because you don’t play on the same wickets [all the time]. Whatever the wicket demands, you’ve got to change your stance accordingly, and I think I’ve changed so many stances [that] I’m able to adapt anywhere at the moment.”
That adaptability has been tested. Since lifting the Champions Trophy in the UAE in March, Iyer has seen no Test or T20I action. Instead he logged a stop-start IPL, two first-class matches for Mumbai, and three one-dayers while captaining India A against Australia A. The workload, he realised, was proving awkward for his back.
“When I played red-ball cricket after the IPL, I realised that if I field for long spells on the ground, my intensity starts to go down. And the intensity that you need to maintain in international cricket, I wasn’t able to match up to it. In ODIs, you know you will get rest after one day and be able to recover. Not in Tests. That is why I made that call, and conveyed that message.”
Hence the request to the BCCI for a six-month break from first-class cricket. It sounds drastic, yet at 30 he sees it as a short-term sacrifice. One senior member of India’s back-room staff put it this way: “He knows his body. Give him space now and he’ll probably extend his white-ball career by three, four years.” The BCCI, conscious of the congested Test calendar, have quietly agreed.
The stance tweak itself is simple enough. Shoulders now square to the bowler, bat lifted higher, front knee slightly flexed. The idea is to shorten reaction time against the bumper without over-committing on the front foot. Former India opener Wasim Jaffer, watching on television, was impressed: “He’s minimised the movement, so there’s less that can go wrong,” Jaffer said. “Still plays the pull, but the weight transfer is cleaner.”
Of course, one fifty does not settle the debate. Australia’s attack, resting Pat Cummins for this match, lacked a touch of outright pace. And the ODI series still has one match left in Brisbane, where the bounce can be less predictable. Yet there is something reassuringly ordinary about Iyer working through a technical adjustment in plain view. No new-age bat design, no biomechanics buzz, just a batter going back to what felt natural at 15.
For India, the timing is helpful. The middle order remains in flux while selectors juggle workloads before next year’s Champions Trophy defence. If Iyer convinces them that he can handle hard lengths here, a recall to the Test squad later in the summer is not impossible, even with his self-imposed break.
The man himself sounded more relieved than triumphant. “So, yeah, I backed myself and then, from there on, I started [trying the technique] in the domestic [games]… Till now, I’ve been continuing with the same stance.” Small shift, modest tone, decent return. On a pitch with snakes, that will do for now.
